Humans and mice showed some similar attention benefits from amphetamine on related tasks, but the effects were not identical. Human reaction-time variability improved, while the mouse experiment did not detect that effect.
MacQueen and colleagues tested healthy adults on the five-choice continuous-performance task after placebo, 10 mg or 20 mg d-amphetamine. The human dose groups totaled 71 participants. Male C57BL/6J mice completed a touchscreen adaptation under saline and several weight-adjusted doses. These were separate experiments in different species, not a human-to-mouse dose conversion exercise.
In humans, both doses improved signal detection, hit rate and response accuracy, and reduced variability of hit reaction times. In mice, the moderate 0.3-mg/kg dose improved signal detection, hit rate and accuracy. Mouse hit-reaction-time variability did not significantly change, and mean hit reaction time did not change in either species. More reliable responses and faster average responses are therefore distinct outcomes.
Shared task structure can help study mechanisms, but matching some endpoints does not demonstrate complete biological equivalence. Species, administration conditions, training and dose ranges differ, and the mouse findings cannot establish a human therapeutic dose. The experiment also did not measure academic grades, complex judgment or driving. Attention-task improvement should not be used as an individual intoxication classification. The translational value lies in both the convergent outcomes and the mismatch: retaining negative results helps identify which aspects of the paradigm actually travel across species and which require additional explanation.
See why experimental drug exposure and performance remain distinct measurements.